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The manufactured Minnesota outrage campaign did not arise organically. It was amplified across social media platforms owned, funded, and heavily influenced by right-wing power brokers and figures known to be extreme Zionists, turning a years-old, already-prosecuted case into a politically motivated media event.

This entire debacle was admittedly directed by Republican Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, orchestrated by anti-Muslim registered lobbyist David Hoch, and amplified by right-wing YouTuber and charlatan journalist Nick Shirley. This coordinated action caused real-world crimes by portraying even the legitimate facilities as fraudulent, filming during nonoperating hours, at inactive backdoors, or when denied uncredentialed entry. 

The goal was apparently to use this previously exposed corruption to spark new political controversy and federal probes to boost Demuth’s gubernatorial campaign, not uncover wrongdoing.

Ironically, Paul and Brooke Shirley (Nick Shirley’s parents), along with Brooke’s sister Amy Hall, were defendants in a 2018 Utah bankruptcy case marked by fraud allegations, a dispute that lingered for years before being jointly dismissed in 2021.

The Minnesota fraud originated years earlier with Feeding Our Future and its CEO, Aimee Bock, an American-born, white US citizen, not a person of Somali descent.

The situation is further tainted by the fact that the Netanyahu administration has used operations like the “Esther Project,” run by Bridge Partners in Washington, DC, to pay US influencers — exactly like Nick Shirley — $7,000 per post, to influence Americans for Israel’s benefit. This is a federal crime if they haven’t registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Could demonizing Somalis in the US possibly align with Israeli intelligence objectives? 

Israel recently became the only country to recognize Somaliland, a self-declared state separate from Somalia, after it reportedly agreed to host an Israeli military base, join the Abraham Accords, and to take Palestinians from the Gaza genocide.

This narrative casts Somalis negatively while effectively creating Somaliland as a cooperative partner, shaping US perceptions of Israel’s regional goals. 

Somaliland sits on the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s most important shipping routes, giving Israel a strategic military foothold and a new regional ally and a place to send displaced Palestinians.

On top of this, in the US two far larger criminal conspiracies, each dwarfing the Minnesota fraud by an order of magnitude, are also being ignored amid all this GOP fraud frenzy.

Trump’s COVID-19 relief programs saw over $280 billion (that’s billion with a ‘B’) siphoned through fraudulent claims.

US Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) led the massive hospital chain Columbia/HCA as CEO when the company engaged in the largest fraud in US history. Under Scott, the company systematically overbilled the government, inflated diagnoses, charged for unnecessary procedures, and misclassified marketing costs as educational expenses. 

Scott invoked the Fifth Amendment 75 times during a legal deposition to avoid self-incrimination, abruptly resigned from Columbia/HCA in July 1997 just days after federal raids, and still walked away with $10 million in cash and $300 million in stock.

Despite all this, he continues to falsely claim political targeting, even though the case was settled under President George W. Bush in 2003, not Clinton.

Columbia/HCA pleaded guilty to 14 felonies but paid just $1.7 billion — a fraction of what was stolen. Despite presiding over this record-breaking fraud, Scott absurdly became Florida governor twice and now even serves as the state’s US senator, feigning ignorance of his crimes. 

The contrast is stark. Respectively small, fully investigated state-level fraud in Minnesota is recycled through viral videos and amplified by GOP operatives and illegal foreign agents on social media to manufacture outrage. Meanwhile, massive federal fraud under Trump and committed by Scott is downplayed or ignored.

This is not about accountability or fraud. It’s selective outrage designed to manipulate narratives, advance partisan agendas, and shield powerful actors from scrutiny. 

Real accountability happens in courtrooms, with indictments, convictions, and penalties, not through manufactured media spectacles filmed at closed buildings while far larger crimes go unpunished.

HASHTAG PICKS

What We Know About a Minneapolis Day Care Center That Was Highlighted in Video About Alleged Fraud

From CNN: “It may now be the most famous — or infamous — sign in the country. Posted above a door on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, the Quality Learning Center was missing an ‘n.’ For a conservative content creator attempting to call out fraud — and the supporters who made his video on day care centers in Minneapolis’ Somali community viral — it seemed too absurd not to mention. ‘This is Quality “Learing” Center,’ Nick Shirley said, pointing to the sign. ‘They spelled “learning” wrong.’ Shirley’s 42-minute video posted the day after Christmas quickly spread, prompting stepped up immigration enforcement, frozen federal funds and more biting rhetoric against the Somali community from President Donald Trump.”

Everything We Know About Minnesota’s Massive Fraud Schemes

From CBS News: “As 2025 drew to a close there is one story that captured the nation’s attention. … It is the story of fraud in Minnesota, which federal prosecutors estimate could top $9 billion. A viral social media video by YouTuber Nick Shirley, which was amplified by Elon Musk, Vice President J.D. Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi, has put the issue into the center of the national conversation, stoking a scandal that has been brewing in state politics for years.” 

Right-Wing YouTuber Behind Viral Minnesota Fraud Video Has Long Anti-Immigrant History

From The Intercept: “This isn’t the first time the conservative YouTuber has gotten the attention of the Trump administration. Shirley participated in President Donald Trump’s ‘Roundtable on Antifa’ in October after an altercation at an anti-ICE protest. At age 23, his videos aren’t merely influencing his audiences — they’re also influencing government action. This worries immigrant rights advocates, who fear that the fallout from Shirley’s video will only worsen the harm already being done to Minnesota’s immigrant communities at a time when Trump has taken to calling Somali people ‘garbage’ at his rallies.”

The Far Right, the Tech Bro Oligarchy, and Zionism

The author writes, “[Elon] Musk’s continuous promotion of Zionist narratives seems aimed at rehabilitating his image and ongoing antisemitism, which is often laced with typical white supremacist attacks on George Soros, historical revisionism, misrepresentation of Hitler and apologetics for the Fuhrer’s ideological heirs in Germany, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) xenophobic far-right party.”

Why 2025 Was the Year Trust Died

From The Independent: “The real threat to public trust isn’t fake news scandals, but the spread of low-grade misinformation, says Kenny Campbell. And once people stop caring what’s true, trust becomes almost impossible to rebuild.”

After Quiet Off-Year Elections, Democrats Renew Worries About Trump Interfering in the Midterms

The author writes, “If history is a guide, Republicans stand a good chance of losing control of the House of Representatives in 2026. They have just a slim majority in the chamber, and the incumbent party usually gives up seats in midterm elections. President Donald Trump, whose loss of the House halfway through his first term led to two impeachments, is trying to keep history from repeating — and doing so in ways his opponents say are intended to manipulate next year’s election landscape.”

The Best and Worst of 2025’s Fight for Democracy

From Democracy Docket: “It was a tough year for democracy and voting rights, but it wasn’t all bad. The November elections offered more than just a glimmer of hope that next year’s midterms will be a major rebuke of President Donald Trump’s second term. As the Democracy Docket team worked this year to cover all aspects of voting rights and democracy and hold the Trump administration accountable, we kept tabs on some of the best and worst moments.”

From August: Project 2025 Has Achieved Almost Half Its Goals, According To Tracker Website

The author writes, “Project 2025, the extremely conservative agenda that was created as a roadmap to transform the United States, has achieved almost half of its goals, according to a website that follows policy implementation. Despite Trump pretending to be unfamiliar with the project while he campaigned, his administration has wasted no time in achieving most of its agenda, with more set to come soon.”